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Carbon 14

Carbon 14

by Coniglio Type
Licenses from $19.95 USD
Complete family of 6 fonts: $69.95 USD
Carbon 14 Font Family was designed by Joseph Coniglio and published by Coniglio Type. Carbon 14 contains 22 styles and family package options.

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Carbon 14 Collection

6 fonts

Best Value!

  • Carbon 14 Black Tape Carbon 14 Black Tape

  • Carbon 14 Carbon 14

  • Carbon 14 Neo Lite Carbon 14 Neo Lite

  • Carbon 14 Neo Carbon 14 Neo

  • Carbon 14 Stout Carbon 14 Stout

  • Carbon 14 Artifacts Carbon 14 Artifacts

Per Style:

$11.65 USD

Pack of 6 styles:

$69.95 USD

  • Carbon 14 Neo Lite Carbon 14 Neo Lite

  • Carbon 14 Neo Carbon 14 Neo

  • Carbon 14 Artifacts Carbon 14 Artifacts

Per Style:

$9.98 USD

Pack of 3 styles:

$29.95 USD

  • Carbon 14 Black Tape Carbon 14 Black Tape

  • Carbon 14 Carbon 14

  • Carbon 14 Artifacts Carbon 14 Artifacts

Per Style:

$16.65 USD

Pack of 3 styles:

$49.95 USD

  • Carbon 14 Stout Carbon 14 Stout

  • Carbon 14 Artifacts Carbon 14 Artifacts

Per Style:

$9.97 USD

Pack of 2 styles:

$19.95 USD

  • Carbon 14 Carbon 14

  • Carbon 14 Artifacts Carbon 14 Artifacts

Per Style:

$19.97 USD

Pack of 2 styles:

$39.95 USD

  • Carbon 14 Neo Lite Carbon 14 Neo Lite

  • Carbon 14 Artifacts Carbon 14 Artifacts

Per Style:

$9.97 USD

Pack of 2 styles:

$19.95 USD

  • Carbon 14 Neo Carbon 14 Neo

  • Carbon 14 Artifacts Carbon 14 Artifacts

Per Style:

$9.97 USD

Pack of 2 styles:

$19.95 USD

  • Carbon 14 Black Tape Carbon 14 Black Tape

  • Carbon 14 Artifacts Carbon 14 Artifacts

Per Style:

$14.97 USD

Pack of 2 styles:

$29.95 USD

About Carbon 14 Font Family


Carbon 14 is a direct product of photosynthesis. It is produced when a carbon based life form (like you) absorbs sunshine. As a radioactive isotope of the element carbon, it is used as a tracer in biochemical research because of varying amounts detected in all living things past and present. It is the primary means of time dating archæological specimens such as skeletal remains, plant materials, and paintings found in caves. (When you leave this life your remains are still giving off a Carbon 14 “buzz”.) The raised emboss set of the carbon 14 Type family is a font set made under pressure. Literally. The Label making guns of the 1960’s were ingenious; layered laminates, the gun pushed hardened metal or plastic characters from a dial up wheel through alternating colored and white layer of thin plastic revealing the raised embossed character. The insuing peel and stick plastic strips were wonderful for lunch boxes, hard hats, text books, and other “things”. So here we are today with a resurrected and digitized version of those images. ---- Expanded Treatise: Carbon 14 is a radioactive isotope of carbon, the element of star dust, of cinders and diamond, of dried blood and of soot. It is formed when plain and simple sunlight strikes organic matter. and traps it in the tissue of plants and animals. Found only in living things or things that once lived. So in essence, the carbon in our tissue glows and indeed emits radiowaves that can be measured as radioactivity. It was discovered that dating material up to 4000 years or older was useful because Carbon 14’s half-life of its ability to emit radiation before it reverts back to inert carbon lasts at least that long. We are radioactive beings and we are stardust too. We are walking radios. Our hearts Give off Electro-magnetic impulses. Our brains are virtual beacons. But here we are on an ant farm (if we want to be) . Humanity seems misguided most of the time. This is why I’m happy to visit schools where there is a high degree of hope that new generations will continue to love and have values, and to make new art and music and in many ways remain positive of times yet to arrive. I felt that digital material, barring electro magnetic destruction would last forever. Talk about sunspots. But for most human beings forever, really IS NOT a long period of time. We would just like to pretend it is. I’ve been forced to accept everything around me is in a constant state of moving decay. Nothing that is new stays new long. I enjoy relishing in what is new, in full knowledge soon it will slip into the inevitable cycle that lets very little escape. It makes me sad sometimes. I feel haunted by many old things around me, so I enjoy being clear of all these moving ghosts that live in objects made by man. This is why I enjoy keeping stones and rocks in my apartment. They are old pets and welcome guests. A virtual piece of the earth as old as any time we ever wish to keep. It makes me feel close to Nature. Mans hand had nothing to do with it. I do not take credit for making these alphabet characters. I will take credit for sheparding their integrity and authenticity in a new and lively, usable format. I should take no more credit than Carol Twombly the great talented Adobe genius who rendered a fine example of Trajan off a roman column and made those alphabet characters usable in digital form. That’s all! Nothing more. We are shepards of preservation. There is something ghostly itself in the inverted form of Carbon 14 Neo, this font can be remembered as time goes by as a quick and hasty semi-permanent form of communication- a literal labeler for display type and blocks of text, This font begs to be found in the distant future. It shouts to remain legible. It hardens as it ages but does not turn brittle. Carbon 14 is a survivor that gives off a buzz.

Designers: Joseph Coniglio

Publisher: Coniglio Type

Foundry: Coniglio Type

Design Owner: Coniglio Type

MyFonts debut: Mar 17, 2003

Carbon 14

About Coniglio Type

Chances are you like alphabets and glyph shapes as much as I do, and you’re a bit pragmatic in searching for the right type, but can’t quite put your finger on it; please let me take you down a short but memorable path. The Coniglio Type (Con-Nig-Leo) design journey begins by sourcing analog alphabetical artifacts of the past. At the same time I’d like to point out there are thousands of type faces available to make a visual statement, so I recommend taking the time to locate the best choices in type for the unique items you wish to communicate. I do not take credit for making these classic alphabet characters. As a revivalist I'll scan, trace, balance as well as shepherd a faces authenticity from a long fallow field into a new and lively, usable format: Opentype. As a digital developer of analog or mechanical alphabets, I’d hate to be perceived as sentimental. There are so many sentimental type lovers out there who want to see the classics of wood and metal type digitized. Most of that work has been done and done rather well. The Coniglio Type path has more to do with the concept of re-uniting the loyal dependable functional uncomplaining alphabet that you can perceive as an old friend, like a pet dog who gave you unconditional love as a child. Or that of a plow horse who knew how to get the job done, rather quietly and under appreciated when the tractor arrived. Or having a face only a mother could love.  SamplingsLet’s imagine looking at a struck alphabetical character from a manual typewriter’s rubber platen, originating when a metal head strikes an oily black inked silk ribbon yielding an impression onto paper, or the rounded un-smudged struck impressions from a fresh piece of reusable carbon paper (carbon copies? cc?). Other samplings originally from metal objects like brass stencils, India ink templates on drafting boards, and even plastic label maker guns like those used by my father (and can still be found today) to squeeze an embossed name label, dialed up and triggered onto a plastic tape letter by letter for 'Johnny's' hard hat 35 years ago. All of these diverse methods of generating an alphanumeric character have one thing in common; they come from hand operated devices all needing an analog medium: inks, paints, and embossing techniques to produce an alphabetical character. There is a human side to all of this of course. These items derived the working alphabets of the people. People who typed letters accurately without spell checkers, or Wite-Out®. Hand lettering guys who detailed trucks, or stenciled “KEEP OUT — DANGER” on plywood at a construction site. Or Captain John O’Learn typing away on his Royal with a pipe in his mouth 100 miles from the nearest electrical socket. Or Donald Alling, an engineer ruling miles of LeRoy lettering call-outs with ink pens and templates on Mylar®. Illustrating exploded views of dismantled assembly parts for machines, many, no longer in existence today. Like the lettering tools he used himself, even the applications he used them for are long gone.Coniglio TypeBack at Coniglio Type, these letter samplings are now called specimens; are scanned, auto traced, placed on key map vectors, baselined, and otherwise balanced and fine tuned based on Coniglio imaging “recipes”. Offering up functional type elements planet-wide for the designer, whose own desire for self expression is liberated by these “creativity tools” now owning up as a viable product that meets and often exceeds the required standard of quality in the commercial market place. That’s only the qualifier. The fonts for sale in this small collection, Joseph V Coniglio made for himself to use on all of his own graphic design and display/text projects. Coniglio Type is refreshingly versatile and gets the job done quietly with a great deal of personal satisfaction.  The sets and samplings are rather unique reclamations of alphabets orphaned by time and the advances in technology. Most of them relegated to the trash heap in a society bent on self improvement via revision rendering obsolescence. Now in Coniglio’s camp, a mere handful of alphabet specimens are awakened and exploited from their forsaken sleep, and can dance and sing on your pages for the first time.Finally the abstract incantation: “Meditations of my alchemy fall under the silent cloak of night when the world around me is asleep. I probe into what once was, what once was thriving, and what once was forgotten. Then I impose a warm distinctive personality onto my newly created letter forms. I delve internally into the realm of antiquity. Conjuring the things I know and love, to make them digital and magic once more. In doing so, I complete the circle from the forsaken inanimate, to the now enlivened free flowing digital anagram. Please enjoy my small personally made type creations. Type I use myself every day.”[email protected]

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